On this day: April 18

Posted: Apr 18, 2017 12:07 AM MDT

Updated: Apr 18, 2017 08:14 AM MDT

On this day: April 18

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2012: Dick Clark, best known for hosting American television's longest-running variety show, "American Bandstand," from 1957 to 1987, dies of a heart attack at age 82 in Santa Monica, California. Clark also was well known for hosting the game show "Pyramid" and "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve." [ + - ]

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2002: "In Cold Blood" and "Baretta" actor Robert Blake and his bodyguard are arrested in connection with the shooting death of Blake's wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, about a year before. In 2005, Blake was tried and acquitted of charges of murder and solicitation of murder, but on Nov. 18, 2005, he was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death. [ + - ]

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1999: Wayne Gretzky of the New York Rangers plays his final game in the NHL, a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden. Gretzky ended his career with a final point, assisting on the lone New York goal scored by Brian Leetch. Gretzky, who started out with the Edmonton Oilers, who he lead to four Stanley Cup championships, before playing for the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and the Rangers, retired as the NHL's all-time leading point-scorer and holder of 61 individual records. [ + - ]

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1995: Future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana announces his retirement from football. Montana won four Super Bowl titles over his 14 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before closing out his career with two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. [ + - ]

SAMHSA via Wikimedia Commons

1984: Actress America Ferrera, best known for her role on the TV series "Ugly Betty" and for movies like "Real Women Have Curves" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," is born in Los Angeles, California. She's seen here with her then-fiance, actor-director Ryan Piers Williams, on the red carpet at the 2010 Voice Awards in Hollywood on Oct. 13, 2010. [ + - ]

U.S. Army via Wikimedia Commons

1983: A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. The attack, the deadliest on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, came in the wake of the U.S. and other Western countries intervening in the Lebanese Civil war in an attempt to try to restore order and central government authority in the country. [ + - ]

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1979: Model, actress and businesswoman Kourtney Kardashian, who became a reality TV star thanks to "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and its various spin-offs, is born in Los Angeles, California. [ + - ]

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1976: Actress Melissa Joan Hart, best known for her TV roles in "Clarissa Explains it All," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and "Melissa & Joey," is born in Smithtown, New York. [ + - ]

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1974: Film director Edgar Wright, known for movies such as "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," is born in Poole, Dorset, England. [ + - ]

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1971: Actor David Tennant, best known as the 10th incarnation of The Doctor in the BBC science-fiction series "Doctor Who," is born in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. Tennant is also known for playing Barty Crouch Jr. in the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and for roles in the 2011 remake of "Fright Night" and the Netflix series "Jessica Jones." [ + - ]

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1967: Film critic Roger Ebert publishes his very first film review in the Chicago Sun-Times, reviewing the French crime drama "Galia." He would go on to a career that saw him become the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. He worked for the Sun-Times until his April 4, 2013, death after a recurrence of cancer. He also, along with Chicago Tribune critic Gene Siskel, helped popularize nationally televised film reviewing by hosting the PBS show "Sneak Previews" from 1975 through 1982, followed by several variously named "At the Movies" programs. [ + - ]

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1967: Actress Maria Bello, best known for movies such as "Coyote Ugly," "The Cooler" and "A History of Violence," and her TV work on the shows "ER" and "Touch," is born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. [ + - ]

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1966: Boston Celtics center Bill Russell is named player/coach of the team, becoming the first black coach in NBA history. The Celtics' championship streak ended at eight during the 1966-67 season at the hands of Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers, but Russell would guide the Celtics to two more titles in 1967-68 and 1968-69, the 10th and 11th NBA championships of his 13-year career with the team. Russell (seen here in 2011) went on to coach the Seattle SuperSonics for four seasons between 1973 and 1977 and coached the Sacramento Kings for part of the 1987-88 season. [ + - ]

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1963: Actor Eric McCormack, best known for the sitcom "Will & Grace," is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [ + - ]

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1963: Comedian and talk show host Conan O'Brien is born in Brookline, Massachusetts. The former TV writer for "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons" was tabbed to replace David Letterman on "Late Night" in 1993. O'Brien left "Late Night" to take over for Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" in 2009, but lasted only seven months before NBC brought Leno back. He debuted his new late-night talk show, "Conan," on TBS in 2010. [ + - ]

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1962: Comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, the top-grossing standup act in North America known for his puppet characters like "Walter," "Peanut" and "Achmed the Dead Terrorist," is born in Dallas, Texas. [ + - ]

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1961: Actress Jane Leeves, best known for her roles on the TV sitcoms "Frasier" and "Hot in Cleveland," is born in Ilford, Essex, England. [ + - ]

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1956: Actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco are married in a 40-minute civil ceremony in the Palace Throne Room of Monaco. A religious ceremony, as required by Roman Catholic rules, took place the following day at Monaco's Saint Nicholas Cathedral. [ + - ]

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1956: Actor Eric Roberts, best known for his roles in movies such as "King of the Gypsies," "Star 80," "Runaway Train" and "The Dark Knight," is born in Biloxi, Mississippi. Roberts is also the brother of actress Julia Roberts and the father of actress Emma Roberts. [ + - ]

Library of Congress

1955: Albert Einstein, the theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize laureate who developed the general theory of relativity, dies from an abdominal aortic aneurysm at age 76 in Princeton, New Jersey. [ + - ]

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1953: Actor and comedian Rick Moranis, best known for movies such as "Strange Brew," "Ghostbusters," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [ + - ]

San Diego Air & Space Museum via Wikimedia Commons

1950: The first U.S. jet passenger international trip takes place from Malton Airport in Toronto, Canada, to the International Airport in New York City. The Avro Canada jetliner carried a crew of three, with three passengers, and 15,000 airmail letters. The 359-mile flight took one hour, powered by four Rolls-Royce Derwent jet engines. [ + - ]

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1947: Actor James Woods, best known for movies such as "Once Upon a Time in America," "Salvador," "Nixon" and "Ghosts of Mississippi," and for the TV series "Shark," is born in Vernal, Utah. Woods received Oscar nominations for his roles in "Salvador" and "Ghost of Mississippi." [ + - ]

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1946: Actress Hayley Mills, best known for her dual role as twins Susan and Sharon in the 1961 Disney film "The Parent Trap," is born in London, England. Mills won the Academy Juvenile Award for 1960's "Pollyanna" and a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1961 and is also known for other Disney movies like "Summer Magic," "The Moon-Spinners" and "That Darn Cat!" as well as the "Saved by the Bell" precursor "Good Morning, Miss Bliss." [ + - ]

National Archives and Records Administration

1942: Lt. Col. James Doolittle leads a bombing raid on Japan, hitting the cities of Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya. The raid, in response to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. All the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 of the 80 airmen who participated were either killed or captured -- with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. [ + - ]

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1938: "Action Comics #1" is published, featuring the first appearance of Superman. The June cover-dated issue was published by National Allied Publications, a corporate predecessor of DC Comics, and is considered the first true superhero comic. The superhero was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. While the cover price for the first issue of the anthology series was 10 cents, it has become the most valuable comic book of all time, with one copy selling at auction for $2.16 million in 2011. [ + - ]

U.S. Department of the Interior via Wikimedia Commons

1923: Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built," opens in The South Bronx in New York City. The stadium would host 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. The original stadium closed after the 2008 season with the team moving to a new Yankee Stadium across the street and the old stadium being demolished in 2010. [ + - ]

1906: A major earthquake strikes San Francisco, California, during the early morning hours. The quake and its resulting fires, some of which lasted for several days, killed about 3,000 people and destroyed more than 80 percent of the city. [ + - ]

Library of Congress

1857: Clarence Darrow, one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians, is born in Kinsman Township, Trumbull County, Ohio. Darrow is best known for defending teenage killers Leopold and Loeb in their 1924 trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T. Scopes in the Scopes "Monkey" Trial in 1925. [ + - ]

National Archives and Records Administration

1775: The British advancement by sea during the American Revolutionary War begins. The troops advanced from Boston to Cambridge via the Charles River, then by road toward Lexington and Concord while Paul Revere and other riders warned the countryside of the troop movements. [ + - ]

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